


The Economics Project

by StaciNadia



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Human, Basketball Player Derek Hale, Christmas Party, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, First Kiss, Getting Together, Happy Ending, Jock Derek Hale, Love Confessions, M/M, Minor Allison Argent/Scott McCall, Mistletoe, Scott McCall & Stiles Stilinski Friendship, Smart Stiles Stilinski, Star Wars References, Sterek Secret Santa 2019, Teen Derek Hale, The Hale Family (Teen Wolf) Lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:15:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21942745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StaciNadia/pseuds/StaciNadia
Summary: Stiles is stuck working with Derek Hale on an economics project.
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Comments: 10
Kudos: 307
Collections: The Sterek Secret Santa - Edition 2019





	The Economics Project

**Author's Note:**

  * For [damnfancyscotch](https://archiveofourown.org/users/damnfancyscotch/gifts).



> For the Sterek Secret Santa on Tumblr! [damnfancyscotch](http://archiveofourown.org/users/damnfancyscotch) liked high school AUs and enemies to friends to lovers, so enjoy some basketball player Derek, school projects, and smooching under the mistletoe!

“Coach, _no_!” Stiles moaned. “Don’t do this to me!”

“Sorry, Bilinski,” Coach Finstock said, not sounding sorry at all. “Basketball players need to keep up their good grades. And since you are one of the smartest students I‘ve got, you’re going to make sure that our star basketball player gets a good grade on his big semester project! So you and Hale better do an amazing job, or we might lose the championship this year!”

“But I don’t want to! Can‘t I work with Scott again?”

“Think of it as expanding your horizons! You‘re not gonna be working with McCall every day of your life!” Coach said, looking more pumped with every word.

Stiles walked out of Finstock‘s office before he could start quoting Independence Day like he usually did.

**********

“I can’t believe I have to be partners with Derek Hale for that stupid project for Coach,” Stiles complained as he slammed down his tray at Scott and his usual lunch table.

Scott looked appropriately sympathetic, but his expression quickly devolved into a sappy lovesick smile as his crush Allison Argent walked by.

Stiles hit Scott on the shoulder. “Scotty! Pay attention! This is serious, dude!” Stiles knew he was whining, but he didn’t care. This was a crisis of utmost importance.

“Sorry, dude,” Scott turned his attention back to Stiles. “You’ll be okay. You can handle him.”

“Of course I can handle him, Scotty,” Stiles rolled his eyes. “I just don’t _want_ to.” He glared over at the lunch table where Derek sat.

Derek Hale was a junior, just like Stiles and Scott. He sauntered around the school all cocky, like he owned the place, just because he was on the stupid basketball team. And he was ridiculously popular, though he actually hung out most of the time with Vernon Boyd, Isaac Lahey, and Erica Reyes. The four of them were sitting at their lunch table like always. Derek was laughing at something Erica said, throwing his head back in his enthusiasm.

Stiles _hated_ him with everything he had..

“I wish Coach let _us_ work on the project together,” he moaned. “You and me, we work so well together.”

“Of course,” Scott chimed in immediately. “We’re best friends!”

“You bet we are!” Stiles grinned, but his smile quickly faded again. “But who knows how this idiot works? He’s a jock. He’s probably not gonna do a thing, and I’ll be stuck doing all the work, and he’ll get a good grade by doing nothing, and it’s all because he plays basketball!”

Scott looked sympathetic. “It’ll be okay, Stiles.”

“Who are you stuck with for your project, anyways?” Stiles asked. “I quit listening after Coach paired me with the wrong person.”

“I got Isaac Lahey.”

Stiles groaned. Of course poor Scott was stuck with one of Derek’s cronies. “This is the _worst_.” He pushed his lunch tray away in disgust. He didn’t even feel like eating his pizza anymore.

**********

And that’s why on a Saturday afternoon, Stiles was parking in the driveway at Derek Hale’s house instead of having Scott over for a video game marathon. 

Derek’s house was _huge_ and in the preserve. It was closer to an actual mansion than a regular old house. Stiles would normally be impressed by such a house, but then he remembered how much he couldn’t stand Derek and went back to being annoyed.

Derek’s dad greeted him as he came into the house. So did Derek’s little sister, Cora, who was a freshman at their school. His mom was out doing errands.

After a few minutes of talking, Derek finally showed himself at the top of the staircase. He couldn’t even bother to come downstairs. _God_ , Stiles hated him. “Come on up here,” he grumbled. “Let’s get to work.”

Stiles ran up the marble staircase and followed Derek into his room. There were some basketball posters on the wall along with some bands that he apparently liked. And of course all the trophies that he’d won so far. Stiles inwardly rolled his eyes. 

“Jealous?” Derek smirked at him.

“Me, jealous? Never!” Stiles glared at him. “Let’s just get to work on this stock market report so I can go home.”

“Yes, you must have _so_ many more important things to do than this report with me,” Derek glared at him, but pulled out his economics textbook and laptop.

The two boys started to work. Stiles was surprised and rather pleased to see Derek putting in just as much effort as he was into researching, searching the internet and their textbook for information.

“Hey, do you think that we should add this stuff about bonds in our presentation?” Stiles mused, flipping through his textbook.

“These are not the droids you’re looking for,” Derek said with a deadpan look.

Stiles‘ jaw dropped as he stared at Derek in amazement. “Did you just make a Star Wars reference?” he blurted out.

“Yes?” Derek looked confused.

“Oh my God, _you_ know Star Wars? I can’t even talk to Scotty about Star Wars because he’s never seen it. Can you _believe_ that?” Stiles was absolutely delighted at this new information about Derek. It was completely unexpected and kind of awesome. He and Derek Hale actually had something in common that they could talk about, which he had never in a million years thought would happen. “He’s not a fan of the Mets, either,” Stiles continued. 

“Wait, _you’re_ a fan of the Mets?” Derek looked just as shocked as Stiles imagined that he looked just a few moments before. “You always seem like you hate sports.”

“I like baseball, and especially the Mets!” Stiles said. “My dad and I watch them whenever they’re playing! And they’re gonna win the World Series this year, I just _know_ it!”

Derek actually laughed. It was kind of a nice laugh. “Spoken like a true Mets fan,” he grinned. “Check out this shirt I found!” 

He got up and went to his closet and rifled through his shirts. “Ah, here it is!” He pulled out a blue and orange striped one.

“Oh my God, that is so awesome!” Stiles jumped up and ran over to inspect the shirt. “Where did you get it? I need one, too!”

“I got it from an online store. Come on, I’ll show it to you. We can take a break on research for a little while.” Derek started typing on his laptop.

“Cool,” Stiles said, beaming. 

**********

From that day on, Stiles and Derek were friends. First, they started waving to each other in the hallways if they passed by each other. A week or so later, Derek and his friends started joining Stiles and Scott for lunch. It was pretty convenient since Scott and Isaac were also partners for the economics project. And it turned out that Scott and Isaac had become fast friends as well.

Their lunch table grew in numbers again as Scott finally drew up the courage to ask Allison Argent out thanks to encouragement from both Stiles and Isaac.

Three nights a week, Stiles and Derek would meet up to work on their project, sometimes at Derek’s house, sometimes at Stiles’. Eventually, they started meeting up to watch the Mets’ games on TV. Stiles’ dad liked Derek and enjoyed the additional support for the Mets.

Stiles and Derek presented their project in class the last week before winter break. Coach was very pleased with both their report and presentation and gave them both A+s. “I knew you could do it, boys!” Coach wiped a tear from his eye. “We’re gonna be number one thanks to you!”

The two looked at each other and tried not to laugh out loud.

**********

That night, Stiles was sad because he and Derek maybe wouldn’t see each other after school as much anymore. He came to the sudden realization that he was starting to like Derek. Really like him. As in wanting to date him. The night he realized it, he called Scott over, calling it another crisis.

“This isn’t a crisis,” Scott said after Stiles told him how he felt.

“Yes, it _is_!” Stiles wailed. “Two months ago, I hated the guy. And now we’re going to his Christmas party this Friday night. How am I gonna handle it?”

“Tell him?” Scott asked. “I mean, that’s what you bugged me to do about Allison, and I did, and now I’m going out with the most beautiful girl in the school. Have you seen those dimples of hers?”

“Back on track, Scotty!”

“Right, right!” Scott laughed. “But seriously, dude, just tell the guy. The rest of us have been suspecting you liked him.”

“Really?” Stiles felt his cheeks burn. If Scott noticed something when Allison was around, that meant it had to be overwhelmingly obvious. “Oh, man, I don’t know if I can do it,” he moaned.

“You can do anything, buddy,” Scott gave him an encouraging smile.

Stiles grinned at him. “That’s why you’re my best friend, Scotty!” 

**********

Soon enough, it was Friday night, and Stiles was at the Christmas party at the Hales’. Derek greeted him at the door with a hug. Stiles wanted the hug to go on forever, but Laura, Derek’s older sister who was home from college, pulled him away and started chattering to him about how great it was that Derek had a new friend. It was fun to talk to her, and a nice excuse to not go confessing things to Derek just yet. Soon, he was walking around the house, talking to everyone he encountered.

“Enjoying yourself?”

Stiles jumped and turned around. Derek was right behind him, grinning that cocky smile of his. But Stiles was no longer annoyed by it. It was sort of endearing. Oh, _man_ , did he have a crush! “Derek! Hi!” he said, trying to hide his nervousness.

“Come on,” Derek said, beckoning Stiles towards him. “Laura dug up some games for us all to play together. They’re in the living room.”

Stiles followed Derek towards the living room, but just as they were going through the doorway to their destination, Allison called out, “Wait, stop!”

There was giggling from the living room as Stiles and Derek both turned to look at her.

“Look up,” she clarified with a wink.

They both looked up. There was a sprig of mistletoe hanging from the doorway. Stiles definitely hadn’t noticed _that_ before.

He looked over at Derek, who was looking definitely uncomfortable. As much as Stiles was starting to want to maybe try out something with Derek, he didn’t want to do anything to make the other boy unhappy. “Hey,” he said quietly, “we don’t have to if…”

“No!” Derek shouted, then his cheeks reddened as he realized how loud he was. “I mean, I don’t mind doing it,” he amended softly.

“You don’t?” Stiles asked. “Because I really want to, too.” He licked his lips, hoping they weren’t too chapped from the cold weather outside.

Their lips met under the mistletoe. Derek’s lips felt warm and moist, and Stiles wasn’t worried about his own lips anymore. In fact, he wasn’t thinking about anything except Derek and how amazing it was to kiss him. He vaguely heard some cheering going on, but he wasn’t entirely sure. 

It was over way too soon in Stiles’ opinion, but he couldn’t help the broad grin on his face as the two parted. “That was _awesome_ ,” he declared.

“Awesome,” Derek echoed, sounded dazed. 

Stiles couldn’t believe that _he_ made Derek sound like that. He was beaming with pride. But he was also scared that maybe it just was because of the mistletoe, that he wouldn’t get to kiss Derek again.

His thoughts were interrupted by Erica coming over and nudging Derek in the side. “So, are you guys gonna do that again?” she asked coyly.

“Erica,” came Boyd’s deep voice.

Erica pouted, but walked away from the pair, but not before giving Derek another nudge in the side.

Stiles glanced over at Scott, who gave a nod and a thumb’s up to him. He took a deep breath and decided to just go for it. _Carpe diem_ and all that. “Think we might do that again sometime?” he asked, trying for casual and hoping that he succeeded.

Derek looked surprised. “You mean you would _want_ to?” he asked

Stiles nodded rapidly. “God, yes,” he grinned. “I can’t believe I ever couldn’t stand you, but you are actually pretty amazing and I would totally date you!”

The corner of Derek’s mouth quirked up. “You were pretty annoying yourself,” he said. “You’re still kind of annoying, actually.”

“Hey!”

“But it turns out I kinda like annoying,” Derek finished, smirking at him. 

“Hmpf!” Stiles pretended to still be annoyed, but inwardly he was jumping up and down. “I won’t take you to see the new Star Wars movie if you have that kind of attitude.” But he was too excited and happy to keep pouting, and a big smile burst through.

“You bought those tickets for us the day they became available,” Derek pointed out.

“Yeah, but now it could be our first official date?” Stiles said hopefully.

“Yeah,” Derek murmured, leaning forward to kiss Stiles again.

Stiles flung his arms around the other boy and kissed him back with every ounce of happiness and excitement inside him. 

“Pay up, boys!” Erica’s gleeful voice burst through the giddy haze in Stiles’ head

“You bet on us?” Stiles asked breathlessly once he and Derek finally separated.

“Yeah,” Boyd said. 

“But she cheated!” Isaac said, grumbling as he passed over some money. “She was encouraging them!”

“I would have encouraged them no matter who would win in the pool,” Erica protested. “They’re perfect together!”

Stiles looked over at Derek, who was looking back at him with adoring eyes. “We _are_ pretty perfect together,” he murmured with a soft smile.

**********

While Stiles arrived at school after winter break wearing Derek’s letterman jacket, Coach Finstock liked to boast that it was because of him and his economics project that the two of them had gotten together.

**Author's Note:**

> Please ignore the real timelines for baseball and basketball games. I just wanted everything to happen in the fall so everything could culminate at Christmas time...
> 
> It's not explicitly mentioned, but I imagine Erica and Boyd to be together in this AU!


End file.
